March 25: Taylor's Ticket Tour - Day 14

The real reward of the 2010 Ticket Tour comes when folks we meet along the trail get interested enough in the Goldeyes to do more than just buy a mini-pack or rent a suite for a single game.

This week, we were able to complete an arrangement with Brendan Rogers and his associates Paul Winestock and Ryan Downey at RBC Dominion Securities, to purchase a quarter of a suite for the 2010 season. Obviously, our visit with Brendan last month set the wheels in motion and we thank Brendan, Ryan and Paul for becoming partners with the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Day 14 was a busy day in as much as we spent most of it sitting down in meaningful discussion with potential ticket buyers. Day 14 was a little more hard sell than soft.

We talked at length with our great friend George Sigurdson of Sigurdson Financial, one of the real committed Winnipeggers, who not only renewed his season tickets, but also purchased 20 tickets for the season opener on May 20 that he’ll donate to MacDonald Youth Services. George is one of those guys that makes Winnipeg a great place to live.

Then we had lunch with Rick Watts, president of Fabris-Milano Group Ltd., marble, terrazzo and ceramic tile contractors. Rick was a member of the last University of Manitoba Bisons team to win Canada’s national university basketball championship, a former member of both Canada’s national basketball and volleyball teams and a creator of backyard professional whiffle ball. We know we’re going to see Rick at the ballpark on a number of occasions this summer.

We then dropped in at monart in St. Vital to visit our friend Darren Charron who was very interested in this year’s terrific ticket deals before dropping off half a dozen packages with Kevin Kaiser and Don Coucelles at Investors Group West on Portage Avenue. They always purchase a number of suites at the Goldeyes games and we expect to see them in the park a lot this summer.

We also visited with Melodye Whitesell from the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council about some group nights, did a follow up with Blake Russell at the Manitoba Metis Federation, spoke at length with Kris Kopansky (the managing partner at Earl’s Polo Park) and then had a tremendous discussion with Neil Dalrymple, the general manager of Assiniboine Athletic Club. Neil loves the ballpark and knows first hand that Canwest Park is about the best place one can spend a summer evening in Winnipeg.

It was a great day, spent with a lot of people that already love the Goldeyes and the ballpark. And we also added 12 more business cards to our draw for that sensational framed Roman Swiderek print.